Sugar Secrets…& Jealousy

by Mel Sparke

  Sugar

  SECRETS …

  … & Jealousy

  Mel Sparke

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1 A SHOCK FOR MAYA

  CHAPTER 2 BAD NEWS FOR ANNA

  CHAPTER 3 HAPPY HOLIDAYS?

  CHAPTER 4 LONG DISTANCE CALLS

  CHAPTER 5 IT’S A TWIN THING…

  CHAPTER 6 NEW GIRL, NEW PROBLEMS?

  CHAPTER 7 CATCHING UP

  CHAPTER 8 GOBSMACKED

  CHAPTER 9 THE TENSION MOUNTS

  CHAPTER 10 JEALOUSY AND CONFUSION

  CHAPTER 11 A NEW LOW

  CHAPTER 12 HOPES AND DREAMS

  CHAPTER 13 TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT?

  CHAPTER 14 HITTING THE WRONG NOTE

  CHAPTER 15 ONLY HALF THE STORY

  CHAPTER 16 MATT DOES IT AGAIN

  CHAPTER 17 HEALTHY APPETITES

  CHAPTER 18 MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER

  CHAPTER 19 THE TRUTH AT LAST

  CHAPTER 20 MATT SAYS IT WITH FLOWERS

  CHAPTER 21 MOVING ON

  Sugar SECRETS … …& Flirting

  SOME SECRETS ARE JUST TOO GOOD TO KEEP TO YOURSELF!

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CHAPTER 1

  A SHOCK FOR MAYA

  “Mmmmm… That is just… heavenly.”

  “Ooh… yeah.”

  “It so hits the spot…”

  “Uh-huh. Oh, wow…”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Catrina Osgood leaned back, a look of ecstasy on her face. She patted her rounded tummy and gave a blissful sigh.

  “Deee-licious! Actually,” she went on, “I think I’ve got room for another couple of mouthfuls.” She sat forward again and plunged her spoon into the fast disappearing Mississippi Mud Pie sitting on the table between her and Vikki Grant.

  Their enthusiastic reaction to the Pizza Hut dessert they were sharing at the end of their girls’ night out had their friends giggling and other diners staring to see what the commotion was.

  “You two are the limit,” Kerry Bellamy chuckled as she swirled the melted remains of her Death By Chocolate around the glass with her spoon. “Have you no shame?”

  Vikki and Cat looked at each other in mock surprise, then burst out laughing.

  “Er… nope,” said Cat gleefully.

  “At least, not where chocolate’s concerned,” Vikki added as she mopped up the last of the dessert by running her index finger around the inside of the bowl. She sat back and let her eyes rove around the table, which was littered with glasses, straws, paper napkins and leftovers from the girls’ meal.

  “Talking of which,” she carried on, “have you finished with that ice cream, Maya? Since Cat scoffed most of the one we were supposed to be sharing, I’m still a bit peckish.”

  Maya Joshi nodded and pushed her barely touched dessert in Vikki’s direction.

  “You OK, hon?” Vikki asked, concerned by the dejected look on Maya’s face and lack of interest in her food.

  The question needed no reply. Like everyone else at the table, Vikki knew Maya wasn’t all right. She’d finished with her boyfriend, Alex McKay, just over a week ago and, although Maya had been the one who’d decided to end the relationship, it had been the hardest decision she’d ever had to make. She had spent most of the week avoiding the End-of-the-Line café, feeling nothing but misery after the breakup. It had taken a lot of persuasion from her friends to come out with them tonight.

  “I’m fine,” Maya answered unconvincingly, aware that five pairs of eyes were fixed on her. “I’m just not hungry. Sorry… I’m not very good company, am I? I guess I should have stayed at home.”

  “No way!” Sonja Harvey’s tone was emphatic. “We haven’t seen you all week.”

  “I know. But then I haven’t been feeling very sociable. Which is stupid, seeing as it’s my fault that I’m feeling so rotten.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kerry.

  Maya sighed. “Well, if I hadn’t had that brainstorm and ended it, Alex and I would still be going out together—”

  ”—And you’d be really miserable,” Cat butted in, blunt as ever.

  “I guess so. So instead, I’m miserable anyway, even though, deep down, I know I did the right thing.”

  “You did,” Sonja encouraged, sensing that Maya was about to add didn’t I? “You couldn’t have carried on the way you felt.”

  “I guess so,” repeated Maya, nodding and frowning at the same time. She thought back to when she’d turned up on Alex’s doorstep to tell him she was breaking up with him.

  “It just isn’t working,” Maya had explained. “I feel like a seven-year-old whenever I’m with your friends. Like a freak from another planet. I always hoped, no believed, that you being so much older than me wouldn’t come between us, but it has.”

  “Was he surprised when you told him?” Sonja asked.

  “Very,” nodded Maya. “He hadn’t seen it coming, whereas it had been on my mind for ages. He kept saying that things would change, but you can’t change a ten year age gap, can you?”

  “You must be really strong to have gone through with it,” said Kerry.

  “Except that now a part of me wishes I hadn’t,” Maya lamented. “A little bit of me wants to believe what Alex said - that we could have worked it out.”

  “Do you really think you could?” asked Sonja. “I mean, knowing you, you must have thought it through long and hard before you did it.”

  “Mmm, I thought of nothing else for days. And the truth is, I don’t think so. He was never going to feel happy hanging out with you guys, and I was never going to feel comfortable with his friends. And right now, without wanting to sound selfish, being with my friends and thinking about what’s best for me is more important.”

  “So at least this way, you’re not prolonging the agony,” Cat said matter-of-factly.

  “I suppose not. Anyway, it’s done and there’s no going back. Now all I have to do is stop feeling sorry for myself and get on with my life,” Maya shrugged. “I tell you, a few weeks ago I wasn’t looking forward to going on holiday with my family tomorrow. I remember thinking ten nights seemed like forever. Now I wish we were going for longer. I think it’ll do me good to get away.”

  “It’ll be brilliant. I’m dead jealous,” sighed Cat. “I’d much rather be feeling sorry for myself sitting by the luxury pool of my villa in Spain than stuck in a crummy garden in Winstead.”

  Vikki snorted with derision. “Ooh, I feel sooo sorry for you, Cat,” she cackled. “You, in your huge, gorgeous garden that’s bigger than my house. It must be dreadful for you, living in such squalor.”

  To everyone’s astonishment, including her own, Cat’s mum had recently moved in with Matt Ryan’s dad, taking Cat with her.

  “Actually, you’re right,” Cat said, biting her lip. “I keep forgetting I live in one of the poshest houses in town now. Mind you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I challenge any of you lot to put up with Matt, the Slob from Hell, like I have to. Sorry, Anna…”

  She looked across to where Anna Michaels was sitting laughing and carried on. “I know Matt’s your beloved and all that, but you’ve got to admit, he’s not the most well-mannered piggy at the trough. Apart from the obvious male shortcomings like leaving the loo seat up, he’s got some really unpleasant habits too.”

  The others - Anna included - leaned forward, grinning at the prospect of Cat dishing the dirt on Matt.

  “Go on,” urged Sonja gleefully.

  “Well, where should I start?” Cat replied, revelling in being the centre of attention. “I suppose I could begin by telling you how he eats cold baked beans straight from the can
…”

  A shriek of disgust went up from the girls.

  “…Or how he never cleans the bath after he’s been soaking in it for hours on end and leaves a huge scummy tidemark around the edge…”

  “Bleee!”

  “…Or how he eats the leftovers of last night’s chicken tikka take-away for breakfast…”

  “Eurrrgh!”

  “Or how he’s so vain I once caught him plucking the little hairs between his eyebrows.”

  The others cracked up and even Anna had to laugh at this revelation, though she felt she was being disloyal.

  “Anyway, enough of this,” continued Cat. “Can we go now? I have to show you all the dress I want to buy in the window of New Look. Actually, not just the dress, the whole look. It’s so me you would not believe. Come on!”

  Cat shimmied out of her seat and wiggled towards the door. Her fake ponyskin miniskirt, denim cropped jacket - with just a bra top underneath - and white platform mules drew astonished looks as she walked by. The other girls trooped out after her, looking like the backing singers for the latest - wildest - pop sensation. They wandered off down the high street behind Cat, who was steaming on ahead, arm in arm with Vikki.

  “I wonder what this fabulous outfit looks like,” Kerry whispered to Maya.

  “Don’t!” Maya giggled. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to lie if she asks my opinion.”

  “I don’t think our views count for much when it comes to Cat and her choice of clothes,” Kerry carried on. “She’s in a league of her own on that score—Ouch!”

  Kerry winced as Maya grabbed her by the arm and gripped it so tightly she began to lose the feeling in it.

  “Omigod! Look!” Maya came to a halt on the pavement and stood frozen to the spot, her eyes transfixed on something further down the road. Seeing that Maya was looking towards the cinema, Kerry’s eyes frantically searched the billboards advertising current and upcoming productions to see what it could be that had grabbed Maya’s attention so violently.

  Then she saw him. Standing at the top of the cinema steps, engaged in conversation with his female companion, his arm draped around her shoulder, drawing her close to him.

  Alex.

  “Come on, you two. Keep up!” Cat’s voice bellowed down the High Street at them.

  “Oh, no! He’s seen us,” Maya whimpered, visibly cringing and trying to hide behind Kerry’s mass of reddish-brown curly hair.

  At the sound of Cat’s loud voice, Alex turned to see her, hands on hips, yelling from the middle of the pavement. Recognising her, he then let his gaze travel back along the road, taking in first Vikki, Sonja and Anna, then Kerry and Maya bringing up the rear.

  His eyes settled on Maya and he shuffled nervously for a few moments on the cinema steps, quickly removing his arm from the girl’s shoulder. Then, seeming to gather his thoughts together, he fixed a smile on his face and strode across the road towards them, female friend in tow.

  As they got closer, Maya realised that the girl with Alex was Holly, one of his exes. No, more than that, it was Holly, who had tried to win Alex back while Maya had still been going out with him. At the time, Alex hadn’t been in the least bit interested. But now…? Now, it looked obvious to Maya that his feelings had changed considerably.

  “Hi, everyone, how are you?” Alex beamed at them (a little too enthusiastically, Kerry thought).

  “Er, hi, Alex,” Maya replied, while Kerry merely smiled at him.

  Silence.

  To Maya it seemed like an hour before anyone spoke again, though Kerry later assured her it had only a been couple of seconds at most.

  “So… how are you?” repeated Alex, his eyes on Maya.

  “Um, fine. You?”

  “Yeah, great. We’ve just been to see the new Julia Roberts film…”

  “Any good?” Maya asked, glad of a neutral subject to talk about.

  “Not one of her best…”

  “She looked great though, didn’t she, Alex?” Holly cut in, grabbing him by the arm and linking hers through it so that she was standing really close to him again. “Really beautiful.”

  “Mmm… so what have you been up to, Maya?” Alex continued.

  “Um, not a lot…” Maya’s voice trailed off. She stared at the pavement, realised how wimpy and pathetic she must look, and forced herself to make eye contact with Alex.

  By now, the rest of the girls had gathered round and were listening intently to the stilted conversation. They were curious to know what Alex was saying and were ready to rally round Maya if need be.

  “Uh… right… great.” Alex could feel Maya’s friends’ eyes on him, watching the exchange of words, waiting to hear what he might say next. He rubbed his hands together, which Maya knew he tended to do when he was nervous. “Looking forward to your holiday?” he carried on.

  “Yeah, I can’t wait to get away,” Maya said, not meaning to sound cutting.

  “It’ll be a nice break,” he smiled. “I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time.”

  Maya nodded. Oh, God, this is awful, she thought glumly. How am I going to cope with seeing him every week at photography club when I don’t know what to say to him any more?

  “We’d better be going,” Alex continued, clearly keen to extricate himself from this embarrassing situation. “I’ll see you around, OK?”

  “Sure. Bye, Alex, Holly,” said Maya in a tight little voice.

  She felt her bottom lip wobble slightly as she watched him walk off down the road, Holly’s arm still linked through his.

  “How… could… he?” she spluttered through little gasps of breath. “We only broke up last week and already he’s seeing her again!” Her friends gathered round to comfort her.

  “Oh Maya, I don’t know how he could,” Kerry said, giving her friend’s shoulders a gentle squeeze.

  “I guess you didn’t need that right now, did you?” added Vikki, sighing.

  “Hey, come on,” Sonja butted in. “Just because he was out with her doesn’t mean to say they’re an item. Does it?”

  “That’s how it looked to me,” said Maya bleakly.

  She watched Holly and Alex disappear into the distance and felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her heart, splitting her already raw emotions wide open. She tried to rationalise her feelings but somehow she couldn’t.

  After all, Maya thought, it’s not like you can stop loving someone overnight.

  CHAPTER 2

  BAD NEWS FOR ANNA

  “Brrr… brrrrrr… brrr…”

  The sound of the telephone ringing jolted Anna out of a restful sleep. Momentarily unsure of where she was and why she was suddenly awake, when a few moments ago she was having a wonderful dream about Matt, she sat up, fuzzy-headed and confused. The phone continued to ring.

  Gathering her senses, Anna dragged herself out of bed, glancing at her bedside clock. It was 6.35 am.

  My God, she thought, who the hell is ringing me at this time?

  Realising that no one she knew would be daft enough to call at such an early hour on a Saturday morning unless it was incredibly important, she ran to the telephone and apprehensively picked up the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  “Anna, hello, uh… it’s me…”

  Anna immediately noticed that her brother Owen’s voice sounded different - it wasn’t as upbeat as it normally was when he rang. She felt panicky all of a sudden. “Owen? Is everything OK?” she demanded. “Are you all right?”

  “Anna, it’s OK,” Owen reassured her. “I’m fine. It’s Mum. She’s had an accident…”

  “Oh, no!” Anna found her heart beating faster and her fingers clutching the receiver tightly. “Is she all right? What happened?” she demanded, her voice tight and strained.

  “She’s going to be fine, Anna,” Owen continued calmly. “She’s been taken into hospital with a fractured arm. Apparently, she slipped and fell in the kitchen. Sorry - this is a bit early for you, isn’t it? I tried to ring you last night, but you were out.”<
br />
  “Oh, no! Poor Mum.” Although they’d never got along when she lived at home, Anna couldn’t help but feel worried by the news.

  “I’ve just got back from the hospital,” Owen carried on. “They said she’s shattered the radial head in her arm, so they’ve had to operate to remove the shards of bone. They’re going to keep her in for a couple of days for observation.”

  “So what did she slip on? What happened?”

  “She spilt some fat from a frying pan, meant to clean it up but got distracted by the phone, then slipped on it when she went back into the kitchen. She said she knew her arm was broken straightaway: she heard it crack. So she called an ambulance, then she rang me.”

  “So where are you now?”

  “At Mum’s, sorting out some stuff to take to the hospital for her.”

  “I ought to come up…”

  “It’s up to you, but I’m sure she’ll understand if you’re busy. Assuming there aren’t any complications they think she’ll be out on Monday. I can take a couple of days off work, but I’ve got a really important meeting with a new client on Wednesday. I have to get back to Newcastle for that.”

  “I’ll come up on Tuesday afternoon then.” Anna’s tone was definite.

  “If you’re sure.” Owen sounded cautious. He hadn’t expected Anna to offer to visit their mother, not after everything that had happened between them. Although Anna’s relationship with her mother had improved recently, they were still far from ‘close’. “I mean, there might not be any need for you to come. I’m sure the neighbours will rally round to help out. You know how close-knit they all are…”

  “Honestly, Owen, I want to. I’ll square it with Nick to get the time off and try to catch a train up on Tuesday and stay for a few days, maybe till the end of the week.”

  “That’d be really great.” Owen was relieved and pleased that Anna wanted to be involved. “Then, if she has any trouble, I should be able to get some more time off the following week.”

  “OK, that’s settled then.”

  Anna came away from the conversation concerned but also feeling really quite good inside. She had done the right thing by her mum and that, she realised, was important to her.